Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“You don’t know that.”
“I do, actually. So do the doctors, all of them.” Because she didn’t stop at a second opinion.
She sits, and her face, it looks like a child’s for a moment. I’ve watched Emilia closely since the beginning. She’s controlled to an extreme, she’s silent, she’s strong, but at the same time, so utterly and completely vulnerable. This is the face of that vulnerability. Like that of a lost little girl. And it makes me fiercely protective.
But the noble, the good, it always has a flip side. A dark intent beneath the facade of good. Because I know I’m not good. And this instinct to protect—along its edges and seeping in at every crack is the desire to claim. The need to own. To possess.
“I want to see him.”
“That’s not a good idea. The less traffic we have, the better to keep him hidden. But you can call Nan when we’re done here.”
“Aren’t we done?”
“No. There’s a meeting tonight. You’ll attend with me.”
“A meeting?”
“Yes. I have some work to do now. Vincent will take you to your apartment to get what you need. You’ll then be brought back here to spend the day. I’d say bring a bikini to swim, but we know how that went last time.”
“Fuck you.” She stands, takes the file, walks around the chair she just vacated, and puts one hand on the back of it. “I asked for your help with one thing. I asked you to help me keep my father safe. That didn’t mean you get to take over my life, every aspect of it. I’m not going to any meeting with you. I’m going to go see my father and then I’m going to go back to my apartment—”
“Where you’ll wait for Alessandro?”
At that, she stops. “I can handle myself. I’m stronger than I was when he…did what he did. I’m not the same person anymore.”
“You may like to believe that,” I check my watch, “but you’re still no match for a man.”
“It’s not what I want to believe. It’s the truth.”
I stand, ignore her comment, and walk around the desk. I know it takes all she has to remain where she is, hugging her father’s medical file to her.
“This isn’t up for discussion. You’ll be at the meeting tonight, and you’ll behave yourself.”
“Or what? What if I don’t do as you say?”
I cup her ass and squeeze, watch her flinch.
“You really need to ask?” I pause, let my words sink into her thick skull. “Know that I was gentle last night.”
“Gentle?” She snorts.
There’s a knock on the door. “Come in.”
It’s Vincent. “Sir, the cars are ready.”
“We’ll be right there.”
He leaves and closes the door. “File,” I say, stepping back and holding out my hand.
“Why do you need it?”
“I don’t. I just want it.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“I only asked you to keep him safe.”
“File.”
She exhales, knows she won’t win this one. Truly, I could give a fuck about the file, but it’s a matter of principle. She hands it over. I thank her, then set it back on my desk.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Why do you want me at this meeting?”
“You’re charming company,” I deadpan.
“Who’s going to be there?”
“Don’t concern yourself with that. You’ll be with me. You’ll be safe.”
“Why wouldn’t I be safe?” she asks, then stops. “Does whoever it is know that you’re bringing me? Emilia Estrella?”
She’s been in hiding this long. After tonight, everyone will know she is alive and well. They’ll know more than that too, but she doesn’t know that just yet, and I don’t plan on telling her. No way she’ll go along with it if she did.
“No one knows yet.”
“But they will.”
I study her.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“I will keep you safe.” I reach out a hand to touch her cheek.
But she slaps that hand away. “You keep saying that, but who’s going to keep me safe from you?” She turns, walks out the door and, without another word, is escorted to the car that will take her to her apartment.
13
Emilia
I’m only allowed twenty minutes in my apartment, and the only moments I get alone are when I close my bathroom door. I’m back at Giovanni’s house without delay where the first thing I do is call Nan. She sounds relieved to hear from me and she tells me she and dad are safe. Two doctors have come to look at him, which I have to ask Giovanni about because he doesn’t need new doctors, and the only help I asked for was that he keep him safe from Alessandro. She says there are a dozen armed men, and although she’d rather be at home, she feels safer to have them here now that Alessandro knows dad’s alive.
I’m given free rein of the house. I have lunch and spend an hour outside trying to flip through a magazine, but my mind is too distracted. I go inside and, after making sure the cook is in the kitchen and none of his men are around, I casually try the study door. It’s locked. I guess I knew it would be, but it was worth trying. I try the other doors too, and the only one that is unlocked, apart from his bedroom, which I’ve already searched, is the one to the library. I enter that darker room and stand looking around at the two stories of books along the walls. The comfortable chairs.